Cracks
by blueangel573
Summary: Ever since XANA was defeated, Odd's felt like the rest of the group was fine moving on without him. They split into groups, Odd simply not fitting into one of those. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad to try and make new friends, though the idea their group will come back together keeps each potential friend at arm's length. [OCs loosely based off BTS's Kim Taehyung and Min Yoongi]
1. Chapter 1

Odd couldn't really remember what it felt like to be busy. Ever since they'd defeated XANA three months prior, life had been stagnant, boring, and all around unpleasant. Maybe not _all around_ unpleasant, but it wasn't as exciting as it used to be. Somewhere down the line, group outings dwindled down to paired outings. Yumi and William hung around each other a lot more, Aelita and Jeremy kept geeking out over computers, and Odd and Ulrich stuck to late night gaming sprees and trips to comic book stores.

They for sure had a lot more freetime. Odd was amazed that he could complain about having more time to sleep, eat, and mess around, but he could. He'd been reluctant to join any clubs or groups, thinking that maybe their friend group would come back around and start doing things together again. Other than eating together, really.

Or at least, maybe the group would come around and start doing things with _him_ again. Ulrich still hung out with Yumi plenty, and by default, William. They seemed to have good times together, if the way Ulrich didn't usually arrive back at the dorm until midnight was any indication. Aelita and Yumi still had their girl days, and Jeremy just kept being a hermit. No one really had time for him except Ulrich anymore, and it was starting to wear thin on his mind.

Sometimes, Odd liked to be alone. He liked to venture out into the town and let the wind take him wherever. Sometimes he ended up in skating rinks, other times he ended up at the cinema, other times he ended up nowhere at all. Those days weren't too bad; the ones that just ended up being long walks around the city.

That day, he ended up at a small arcade inside the only shopping mall within walking distance of Kadic. It was large, a lot larger than he had anticipated by the head count he'd taken inside the shopping center. Only three stores were actually open, one food stand in the food court, and some trampoline park for kids. The trampoline park was by far the busiest thing in the entire mall, the rest only having one or two patrons, or even none at all.

Odd walked inside, heading to the front desk as he looked around the spacious room. There were four other people that he could see. Two sat on a black leather couch, Wii remotes in hand as they played a game of Mario Kart, while one was playing a rather aggressive game of pinball, and the other was rocking out on Dance Dance Revolution. He wasn't too bad either, Odd noticed.

"Hey, kid." The clerk said, waving Odd forward to the desk.

"Hi." Odd responded, looking up and around for any information on prices.

"Eleven bucks for the whole day." The man said, and Odd nodded. Not a bad price, and it surely allowed him a perfect amount of time to be away from the school. The blonde pulled his wallet out of his pocket, handing a wrinkled twenty to the man. He took the bill quickly, counting out his change and handing it back. "Left wrist." He said, and Odd pulled his sleeve back to give the man better access. A red wristband was placed around his wrist, and with that, he was being shooed away into the arcade. Easy enough. At least he didn't have to worry about tokens or game cards.

Odd allowed himself a few minutes to just wander around the room. Towards the front had walls filled with console games, each one free to play as long as you left something with the clerk so he could be sure you'd return both the game and the controller. Next to the game wall, were two white tables with six small televisions, each with a different console hooked up to them. A little further into the room was a sitting area with a large leather couch, two arm chairs, and a coffee table sat in the middle. That's where two easily middle aged men were playing on the only Wii in the room, their game of Mario Kart looking tense and not at all like something Odd would enjoy spectating.

Next to the Wii station, were four differently themed pinball machines. Wind, water, fire, and Earth. Pretty cool. That would for sure be a station Odd spent some time in. The teenage boy there was highly into the game, eyes wide and unblinking as he inched closer to the game's high score. Too stressful, Odd decided. He kept walking. Turning around, he took a moment to take in all the arcade games laid out before him. They were scattered all over, no rhyme or reason to their placement, but it was just the way Odd liked an arcade to be. Each game was old enough to be nostalgic, none likely younger than 2000.

On the far back wall was a projector displaying a paused game of Guitar Hero. Two fold up chairs were sat a decent ways back, guitars propped up in both chairs. That was for sure something Ulrich would enjoy, if he ever stopped hanging around with Yumi and William. Biting his lip, Odd shook the thoughts out of his head. This was supposed to be his time to focus on himself, not anyone else.

He walked along a wall of arcade games before he came upon the Dance Dance Revolution stage. The kid playing it couldn't have been much older than him, but he sure had rhythm. He hit every button almost flawlessly, his face and body relaxed as he moved to the music. It was easy to tell that DDR didn't have much to do with your actual ability to dance, but by that point, Odd was sure he'd be a natural at the real thing too.

Pulling himself away from the impressive image, Odd decided he'd be best suited with PacMan. It was his favorite time waster game, and it didn't look like anyone would be fighting over the game anytime soon. He might have had the perfect way to pass an hour or two, and he intended to start right then.

Shutting his phone off and pocketing it, Odd finally allowed himself to really relax. It was a nice feeling to be able to block out the rest of the world for a while. No more, "Hey, the world might be ending" phone calls that forced him to have a constant tether to reality. Pressing the start button on the game, he fell into his gaming mindset. Up, down, back up, over.

An hour had passed before Odd pulled himself away from the PacMan station. He'd easily won the game a few times, but it was always interesting to try and learn new patterns and quicker ways of completing all the levels. Looking around, he noticed that pinball kid was now playing a game on a PlayStation 2, Wii guys were now playing a different game, and DDR guy was still playing DDR. A few other people filtered into the arcade, most of them sticking to the Guitar Hero station or browsing through the games on the wall.

Odd looked around, hands on his hips. There were plenty of games to keep him occupied, but a lot of them he already knew his way around. Maybe it would be more entertaining to find one he'd never actually played before? With that in mind, Odd made his way closer to the middle of the arcade game section of the arcade. His eyes caught Mortal Kombat. Better than nothing, he supposed.

It was fair to say, he was not cut out for that game. Even after watching all the tutorials countless times, he still seemed to have trouble with even the most basic moves. It was fun when he had a handle on it, but not so much when he lost his mojo and lost to an easy opponent. The third time he lost to the same character, he let out an audible groan, smacking his hand against the game's dashboard.

"You're pressing the wrong button." A voice said from behind him. Odd turned around, coming face to face with DDR kid from earlier. He was tall, _much_ taller than Odd himself. He was also impeccably dressed, Odd noticed. Tight fitting black shirt, expensive looking leather jacket, black ripped skinny jeans, and nicely polished timberlands. Damn, the amount of money that guy must carry around with him. What was he doing here?

"Here, let me help." He said, wiggling next to Odd so he could show him the proper buttons to push at certain times. Odd took a second to study the other's face. He was clearly not from France, if his accent was anything to go by. By looks, he was Asian, though his accent was a bit different from Yumi's. Probably not Japanese then, he thought. His straight, brown hair was pulled back by a headband, his brown eyes looking questioningly into his own.

Ah, he'd been staring.

"Right, yeah, help. Great." Odd stuttered. Real smooth. The guy laughed as he starting up the game and guided him through the first few encounters. By the time they'd managed to defeat the third character, Odd was sure he had the game's mechanics down pat. The taller boy gave Odd a solid high five, the two whopping as Odd finally managed to defeat one of the more challenging encounters all on his own.

"Thanks, man. You're awesome." Odd said, smile hardly as wide as the other guy's proud one.

"No problem. By the way, I'm Taehyung." Taehyung said, holding his hand out for Odd to shake. Odd accepted the hand easily, the two giving a silly, rough shake that caused them both to erupt into laughter.

"Hey, Tae, Wii's finally open." Another voice entered Odd's ears. Pinball kid was the next to walk up. He looked to be at least a few years older than Taehyung, though he still had the same expensive style as the other boy. The only real difference between the two, was the older's mint green hair and the fact he was nearly a foot shorter.

"Okay, well I'll see you around-?"

"Odd." Odd responded, waiting for the typical shock to coat the other's face at the strange name. To his surprise, Taehyung didn't do anything except give him a happy wave, walking off with Pinball kid toward the game consoles. Odd chuckled lightly again, feeling more giddy than he had in years. It was a strange feeling for someone to be genuinely excited to talk to him, even though it only lasted a few minutes at most. When was the last time he'd attempted to make a new friend? The last he remembered was when he transferred to Kadic.

Odd managed to get through a few more rounds of Mortal Kombat before hunger really started to settle into his stomach. He could feel the way his stomach grumbled long before he heard it, and once he heard it, he decided it was probably time to head back to Kadic. After all, the man did say the wristband worked all day. Maybe he could swing back around later and play more of the games he hadn't had a chance to touch yet.

By the time Odd made it back to Kadic, it was already well after five pm. He could see the dorm residents making their way to the cafeteria, the line already long and slow moving. Maybe he should've just gotten dinner at the food court in the mall, then he wouldn't have had to make the trek back. Oh well, he was here now. No point in dwelling over what's been done.

Odd walked slowly toward the cafeteria, face buried in his phone as he scrolled through Twitter and Instagram. Not many interesting updates except for the funny posts made by Milly and Tamiya. Those two really knew how to crack good jokes.

Odd made his way into the line, face still deep into his phone. He didn't feel like talking to anyone around him. He was still in his _me day_ attitude, and any sort of conversation would be unnecessary and slightly annoying. Mainly considering the fact he somehow found himself right behind Sissi and her two goons. Somehow, the girl was even worse now than she was a few months ago. Maybe the hair dye she used to turn her hair platinum blonde killed off the rest of the brain cells she had left?

"Where's your crew?" Ah, the sound of metal scraping against metal.

"Don't know." Odd responded back. It was simple, short and sweet, and not at all what Sissi expected to hear. If it left her stunned silent, it suited Odd just fine. The girl grumbled, turning back to Herve and Nicholas instead of pressing Odd any further.

 _You okay?_ Odd received the text from Ulrich immediately after Sissi turned away from him. Odd smiled, an unexpected warmth spreading through his chest at the question. No matter how much crap he gave Ulrich for always hanging out with William and Yumi now, there really was no denying that Ulrich still cared deeply for him and how he was feeling. Every night Ulrich still asked him how his day was, if he did anything special. They still watched shows together, played games, talked about stupid stuff that they wouldn't dare voice around anyone else.

Their friendship was still the same, so why did Odd feel so awful every time Ulrich popped into his mind lately? Was it really because Ulrich wasn't giving him his undivided attention? That was needy, and way too clingy for Odd's liking. Ulrich was allowed to hang out with whoever he wanted to, and Odd should be okay with him doing so. They saw each other every day, hung out every day even. That should be enough for him.

 _Odd, what's wrong?_ Odd jumped at the second notification. He quickly typed out a response, sending it before Ulrich could get any more worried.

 _Weird day, I'll tell you in a minute._ Odd responded.

 _Okay._ Ulrich said simply. Odd sighed, finally getting to the part of the line he could pick what food he wanted. It wasn't anything special today. Hamburgers and fries, or turkey and mashed potatoes. He grabbed at a turkey plate, not even bothering to ask for seconds before turning and making his way to their group's normal table. Maybe he was feeling a bit off.

"Wow, Odd, only one serving today?" Jeremy joked as Odd sat down.

"Wow, Jeremy, one serving today? I knew one day you'd start caring about your health." Odd could hear the bite in his own words, and it shocked even himself. Okay, maybe next time he'll drop his problems in the problem hat before walking into a room filled with the root causes of said problems. That way he could leave them there while he spoke to them, then pick them up on the way out.

 _Uh huh, you're totally fine._ Ulrich's text came through accompanied by a raised eyebrow from the brunette in front of him. Odd shrugged his shoulders, deciding it would be easier to type a response back than voice one outloud.

 _I don't know. I don't think I had a bad day?_ Odd responded, and Ulrich looked worriedly up at him. Oh no, that was his, "we're going to talk later," look. He'd really wanted to get more use out of that arcade than what he'd gotten.

"So, what did you all do today?" Yumi asked, breaking through the thick tension that had settled over the table.

"Finished a new gaming program Aelita and I have been working on. We've finally got the characters to move smoothly." Jeremy exclaimed in excitement. Well, as much excitement as Jeremy is capable of. _Stop that. He didn't do anything to you,_ Odd argued with himself.

"I took a nap." Ulrich said, eliciting a chuckle from everyone except Odd. Had he really not left the dorm at all that day? Maybe he should have invited him out.

"What about you, Odd?" William asked, sensing the younger's troubled thoughts. Of all the Lyoko Warriors other than Ulrich, William seemed to read him the easiest. It was flattering in a frustrating sort of way.

"Went to an arcade. Met this cool guy though, taught me how to play Mortal Kombat." Odd shrugged, taking a bite out of his mashed potatoes. He felt guilty for how good of a time he'd had, knowing now that Ulrich had just slept all day without anything to do.

"Met a guy, huh?" William winked at him. "Was he cute? Muscular, skinny? Give me all the deets." William joked, holding his head up with both of his hands as he looked intently at Odd. The Italian could feel his face heat up, and the weight of Ulrich's gaze flicking everywhere but his own was crushing. Wanting to keep up a brave face, Odd let out a practiced laugh.

"Nah, not my type. I think he goes to school here, actually. Pretty sure I've seen him in the hallways once or twice." Odd said. William hummed, taking a long swig out of his cherry coke.

"What's his name?" William asked.

"Taehyung. Don't know his last name." Odd shrugged, still attempting to catch Ulrich's gaze. God, a jealous Ulrich was the absolute worst.

"Taehyung Kim? I know his brother. He's in my class." William said, sounding shocked that he knew of the kid Odd was referring to. It wasn't like the school was particularly big or anything. It was more shocking Odd didn't know about Taehyung or his supposed brother long before now.

"Does his brother have mint green hair by chance?" Odd asked, eliciting a few chuckles from the rest of the group. William nodded.

"Yeah, super chill guy. Not the best at French, but he's getting there." William responded. Odd nodded his head, looking back toward Ulrich again. Finally the two of them made eye contact.

 _Stop that. I can feel you seething._ Odd text him. Ulrich rolled his eyes, but a smile broke through anyway.

 _Don't think I like the thought of other guys checking you out._ Odd chuckled then.

 _Why's that?_ Odd pressed, knowing he was either going to get a very flustered Ulrich, a very flirty Ulrich, or a very passive aggressive Ulrich. Either way, it would be entertaining.

 _Because, I don't want anyone else to know just how cute you are._ Or maybe he'd get a very flirty Ulrich, and a flustered Odd out of it instead. Ulrich let out a loud laugh at Odd's red face, a small chuckle escaping his own lips as well. Maybe he'd been worried for nothing. Ulrich wouldn't just ditch him for anyone else.

"Oh! Hey, Odd, did you hear about the new performing arts club that's having sign ups?" Aelita asked excitedly, turning to look at the blonde. Odd shook his head, turning to give Aelita his full attention. "It's for singing and dancing mainly. I thought you might be interested. They also need lyric writers, choreographers, mixers, and music producers. Thought I might join for that."

"Wow, sounds awesome. If you're in I'll give it a shot." Odd shrugged. Aelita clapped her hands excitedly.

"Awesome, we can go sign up after dinner!" Aelita, though excited, made a point to not look Jeremy's direction. Odd didn't blame her. Einstein always seemed to have a problem with her doing anything that didn't involve sitting next to him while he ignored her. Much like how he had a problem with her auditioning to be a DJ, his face betrayed his displeasure at Aelita joining a club without him.

"Yeah, sounds great." Odd responded, sending her an encouraging smile. It did sound like a lot of fun. There weren't many drama productions anymore, and even if there was, Sissi was usually the default for the main roles. That left very little argument up for who else was going to be in the shows and performances. She'd basically black listed Odd's name, which meant he wasn't involved in too many of them anymore. It'd be nice to be in a group that didn't involve her. "Wait, Sissi isn't in this group, is she?" Odd asked.

"No, she said she's too busy with drama." Aelita shrugged. Perfect.

"If she was in it I doubt you'd even be allowed to know about the group, Odd." Ulrich joked, kicking him lightly under the table. Odd rolled his eyes, kicking Ulrich back with a little more force.

"Laugh it up, Ulrich dear." Odd winked at Ulrich's fake shocked expression.

"Scandalous." Ulrich whispered, kicking Odd underneath the table again. "You know only my darling Sissi can call me that." Odd laughed a little too loudly at that, several heads turning toward their general direction.

"My bad, honey bunch." Odd said, Ulrich's smile widening even more. Suddenly, Odd remembered why he got so upset whenever he thought about Ulrich. It wasn't exactly a mystery that Ulrich had problems with commitment. That's why he and Yumi had ran around each other for the better part of two years. Both of them were awful at figuring out their feelings for each other, and in the end, it lead to both of them breaking off the romantic edge to their relationship.

Unfortunately, that now left Ulrich with the ability to jump around whatever his feelings were for Odd. They'd always been a bit flirty with each other. Their friendship was just like that, Odd had assumed. Though, maybe they'd always been flirty because they'd always secretly harbored something underneath their facade of best friends. It hadn't just been joking around.

Now, even though they were very open about their push from best friends to something a little more, Ulrich still wouldn't admit that he actually liked him. Perhaps he still couldn't admit it to himself, but that was still frustrating. Odd realized he liked Ulrich the day he introduced himself in Math.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ulrich whispered, running his hand up and down Odd's covered arm. "You seem really off today."

"I don't know. Just caught in my head." Odd shrugged. His head suddenly started to ache, his food a little more un-appetizing than it had been a few minutes prior. Odd knew it had been a bad idea to keep all these thoughts pent up in his head. Now they were slowly fighting for his attention, his carefully constructed walls crumbling under the pressure of so many thoughts vying to get out. "I think I'm going to head back to the room. I'm not feeling too good." Odd said, deciding to bite the bullet and be honest. Ulrich would know if he was lying anyway, and he didn't feel like listening to the lecture.

"I'll go with you." Ulrich responded, getting up without a pause. Odd didn't argue, his head raging hot and throbbing all the sudden. He wasn't in the right state of mind to argue why Ulrich should leave Odd to mull over his thoughts alone, and even if he was, he wasn't sure he'd want to argue anyway.

"Hey, it's okay. Come on." Ulrich said, wrapping an arm around Odd's shoulders. He didn't realize how weak he felt until Ulrich started supporting his weight. Since when did frustration turn into ridiculous body ailments? Odd simply allowed his head to rest on Ulrich's shoulder, the two walking slowly out of the cafeteria and into the cool night air.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Ulrich asked, pushing the creaky door to the dorms open. Odd nodded his head, annoyed that he really couldn't talk to Ulrich about anything. He was a great friend, and he listened well, he just didn't have all that many good answers to problems. Most of the time Ulrich laughed his attempts at talking to him off, thinking that Odd was merely over reacting to something that had a simple solution.

Which, maybe he was. He did that often. He just wished Ulrich would pretend it wasn't as easy as it was.

"You're burning up." Ulrich suddenly paused, placing his hand atop Odd's forehead. "Maybe I should take you to Yolanda." Odd shook his head, pushing defensively away from Ulrich. He did _not_ want to go to Yolanda. All he needed was to lay down and take a long nap. Preferably one that involved sleeping through all his classes the next day.

"I'm okay." Odd slurred, exhaustion sweeping over him like a freight train.

"When was the last time you ate?" Ulrich asked, rubbing Odd's chest roughly in an attempt to keep him awake.

"Don't know." Odd responded, and he really didn't. Not a full meal anyway. He'd been so stressed out he hadn't really felt like eating much. Ulrich sighed, lifting Odd up into his arms bridal style and carrying him the rest of the way to their room. Odd barely felt the change in direction, his tether on wakefulness lost in the dizzying sensation it brought.

"Stay with me, bud. We've gotta get something in you." Ulrich said, his footsteps loud and muffled. This wasn't the first time Odd had let his blood sugar plummet, but it was more than likely the first he'd let it without having a physical reason. This had happened plenty when they were skipping meals to fight on Lyoko, his body rejecting the lack of nutrients as fast as Odd himself had.

After the first time Odd swan dived to the floor after skipping each meal in one day, Ulrich kept a constant stock of high sugar sodas in their room. Not only that, but he'd quickly invested in a blood sugar tracker, and required Odd to check after each mission they completed that required them to skip a meal or two. More often than not, it benefited them greatly. It saved Odd plenty of headaches, and he's sure his body is grateful that it didn't crash to the floor all those times.

Right now though, he was starting to realize why skipping meals because he was stressed was an awful idea. Of all the reasons he should've just told Ulrich what was wrong, this wasn't one he even thought about. He thought he'd been eating fine.

"I'm going to lay you down on your bed and then I'll be right back, okay?" Ulrich asked, pushing open the door to their room. Odd grunted in response, nerves still flaring in his chest at the thought of Ulrich leaving him alone. _Get a grip, he's going across the room._ Odd relaxed immediately into his bed, the mattress a thousand times softer than he could ever remember it being. "Don't fall asleep." Ulrich said, rubbing at his chest again. Odd whined, nausea flaring up out of nowhere. Great, the last thing he needed was to throw up everywhere.

"-rich." Odd whined again, attempting to lift himself up out of the bed. Ulrich rushed back to his side, attempting to get him to lay down again. Of course, as luck has it, Odd's meager dinner decided to force its way back up right as Ulrich leaned over him.

"It's okay, you're okay." Ulrich's voice was so understanding, so soothing, that it made Odd want to cry. He just ruined the other's clothes, and all Ulrich could do was attempt to calm him down. "Do you think you're going to throw up again?" Ulrich asked. Odd shook his head. At least he felt a lot better than he did before.

"'M okay now." Odd responded. "Sorry."

"Don't be, it's okay. Clothes can be washed." Ulrich soothed, running thin fingers through Odd's tangled hair. Odd sighed, settling his hand overtop his stomach as it gurgled in displeasure. Ulrich had hopped up and away from him before Odd could even register that he was gone, returning with an unopened can of coke in one hand and a chocolate bar in the other.

"Drink this first. All of it." Ulrich said, handing Odd the warm can. Odd sighed, pushing himself up to sit against the bed's headboard. With shaky fingers he managed to pop open the tab, downing nearly half the soft drink in one gulp. "Be careful, don't want you getting sick again." Ulrich cautioned, Odd slowing down a little. He really didn't want a repeat of that whole debacle.

Once the coke was gone, Ulrich took the can back from him and tossed it in the garbage. He returned with another full can, handing it off to the younger. "Eat that and take your time with this one." Odd nodded in response, thanking Ulrich as he assisted Odd in opening the yellow packaging for the chocolate. He already felt slightly better after the first coke started settling in his stomach, though he knew he was still far off from feeling completely okay.

"Was your day okay?" Ulrich asked as Odd hesitantly nibbled at the overly sweet candy in his hand. Odd could see Ulrich fiddling with the blood sugar monitor, his stomach clenching at the thought of the needle pricking the skin of his finger.

"Yeah." Odd replied simply. Ulrich nodded, motioning for Odd to give him his hand. Odd complied begrudgingly.

"That's good. What games did you play?" Ulrich was always talkative when he went through this process. It was the only way to keep Odd from panicking every time he pulled the thing out of his backpack.

"Just PacMan and Mortal Kombat." Odd responded, flinching as Ulrich finally pricked his finger. He wiped away the first spec of blood, squeezing out another before placing the monitor down to soak up some of the blood. Ulrich looked especially troubled by the number on the screen, but Odd was far too exhausted to worry along with him. He just wanted to sleep it off, let the sugary drink and snack do its work, and get to the part he felt less dead.

"I'll check this again in half an hour. You can go to sleep." Ulrich said, taking the now empty candy wrapper from Odd's still shaking hands. Odd nodded once, settling himself back down against his pillow. He was out before he had the chance to pull his blanket up and over himself.

When Odd awoke again, it was to the shrill sound of his and Ulrich's alarm blaring through the room. His head still ached, but his stomach was quelled and his limbs no longer felt like dead weight. That was something at least. Odd shifted, lifting himself up into a sitting position. He allowed himself a moment to collect himself, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He hated mornings.

"Feel better?" Ulrich greeted, turning the alarm off. Silence never sounded so sweet to Odd's abused head.

"Mm." Odd responded, shaking his head only slightly in response. Ulrich chuckled, rustling around his dresser for clothes to wear for the day.

"I'm going to take a shower. If you're going to hurry up, I don't want you walking there on your own." Ulrich said, leaning against the doorway to wait and see what Odd's decision would be. The younger sighed, finally pulling himself out of bed and to his own set of drawers on the opposite side of the room. He settled on his typical baggy purple jeans, a plain black shirt, his purple flannel jacket, and a black pair of socks. Easy. He's glad he never found fashion to be a complicated sport.

"Alright." Odd said, allowing a small smile to break across his face as he glanced at the still waiting Ulrich. The brunette looked worried by his lethargic pace, but he didn't say anything. Ulrich was the silent worry type, and though it itched at Odd to know Ulrich was still fretting over him, he was glad it wasn't out loud.

The two of them walked side by side to the bathrooms on the complete opposite side of the boy's floor, barely any conversation passing between them. Odd still didn't feel too great, and he was having trouble forming coherent thoughts to reply with. Ulrich seemed to get more and more agitated the longer Odd continued to struggle with simple tasks like speaking, but he still didn't say anything. Odd knew he'd wait until he absolutely had to intervene before he did. So far nothing but his head aching was really bother him, so Ulrich left it alone.

"Woah," Ulrich said, Odd's body nearly colliding with one in front of him. The older had barely managed to grab onto Odd's arm to keep him from smacking right into someone just leaving their room for the morning.

"Sorry." Odd said, blinking his eyes up at the person. To his surprise, it was pinball kid from the day before. Taehyung's brother. Perhaps he should learn his name so it wasn't so hard to classify him in his brain.

"It's okay." The mint-haired boy responded. His accent was far thicker than Taehyung's, Odd noticed, his words a little more roughly pronounced. The phrase coming out more like _it okay_ rather than the proper _it's._

"Sorry, man, he's not feeling too good." Ulrich spoke for him, the other waving them off quickly.

"You're fine. I can't walk too straight in the morning either." He chuckled, Odd and Ulrich laughing along with him.

"Hyung, what are you-" Taehyung's head poked out the door, eyes catching Odd's before either of the other two. His face split into a smile as he pulled the door the rest of the way open, coming out to join the others where they were still standing in the middle of the hallway. "Hey!"

"Hey." Odd smiled back, accepting the offered high five with a bit more enthusiasm than he greeted his day with.

"Aigoo, you don't look too good." Taehyung frowned then, the motion oh so over-dramatic and yet oddly not.

"Not feeling too great." Odd shrugged, pulling his hands into his pockets. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Taehyung, because he _did,_ it's just that his brain quite frankly couldn't handle the thinking part associated with talking.

"Well, go wash up, take some advil, and take it easy. I'll see you around, yeah?" Odd was shocked out of his slight asleep stance by that. He wasn't going to press on the conversation?

"Oh, uh, yeah. Okay. Thanks. I'll see you around." Odd smiled, Ulrich nodding his head in thanks at the two before pulling Odd off in the direction of the bathroom again.

"That the guy you met at the arcade?" Ulrich asked suddenly, and Odd just gave a simple nod in response. Ulrich hummed, the two of them going silent as they finally made it into the steamy, humid bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time lunch rolled around, Odd felt one hundred percent like himself again. It took a lot of struggling through classes, a lot of soda shoved down his throat, and a lot of dealing with a worried Ulrich; but he finally felt better. The two boys were walking side by side to lunch together, Ulrich still hovering unusually close, but Odd couldn't find it in himself to mind. After all, he's sure if Ulrich was as sick as he was, he'd be hovering a lot more than the brunette.

The two made their way quickly through the lunch line, settling themselves at their usual table before anyone else made it there to join them. It was early, only 11:45, and they still had five or ten minutes before the others would join them. They spent the gap in time in a relative silence, Ulrich eyeing Odd nervously as he picked around his food. Though he felt one hundred percent better, he still didn't _really_ feel a hundred percent better. His body was okay, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Odd, please eat." Ulrich whispered, running his hand comfortingly up Odd's arm. The younger sighed, putting his fork down. He had no idea why he was so stressed recently. Aelita even asked him to join a club with her last night, there was no reason to stress over his friends leaving him behind. "What's going on? Stop telling me nothing. I know you better than that." Ulrich said, attempting to leave no room for argument yet still trying to be gentle.

"I don't know why I'm so stressed. I guess it's just all the school work we have." Odd attempted to lie, and Ulrich scoffed at it.

"Uh huh, because you always get stressed over school work." Ulrich said with a roll of his eyes. Odd sighed this time, rubbing tiredly at his eyes.

"It's stupid. I don't want to go into this whole thing when I know it's stupid." Odd said, looking Ulrich dead in the eye as he spoke. It was hard to maintain eye contact when talking about something he didn't want to talk about, but he forced himself this time. Odd needed Ulrich to know how important what he said was. He needed Ulrich to know that if he was going to attempt to help, he couldn't avoid it by saying Odd was silly and over reacting to a simple problem.

"Just tell me what it is." Ulrich sounded exasperated, bordering on annoyed with how Odd wouldn't just simply tell him what was wrong. Odd understood to a degree. He'd never had this much trouble talking to Ulrich before.

"I don't know, I'm just upset that everyone except you doesn't seem to come around anymore." Odd shrugged, his gaze now honed in on his barely touched food. Ulrich didn't say anything for a second, probably trying to figure out what to say that would actually be remotely needed. To his surprise, Ulrich placed a comforting hand on his arm again, his other hand guiding Odd's gaze back up to Ulrich's own.

"Hey, stop being shy with me." Ulrich said, Odd allowing himself to continue staring at Ulrich rather than the ground. No matter how much more inviting the ground seemed at the time. "I know where you're coming from. It has been really weird ever since-" Ulrich gestured wildly with his hands, attempting to say something yet not really wanting to speak it.

"Since we defeated XANA." Odd supplied for him, Ulrich giving a slight nod in response.

"You're allowed to be upset. I know I'm upset I hardly get to talk to Jeremy or Aelita anymore. They're always doing their own stuff." Ulrich shrugged, taking an almost angry bite out of his food. Odd was shocked, his eyes blown wide to reflect that. Ulrich was always insecure about their friends leaving him behind, but it was never something he openly admitted to without a lot of coaxing on Odd's part. Even validating Odd's feelings wasn't something he usually did using his own experience.

"Yeah, I just don't want us all to leave each other behind like that." Odd said, allowing himself to take small bites out of his lunch. His stomach didn't protest, not even weakly, so he allowed himself to take full bites then. Ulrich seemed satisfied by the quick change, and went back to eating his own food as well.

"You know we'll always be friends though, right?" Ulrich asked suddenly, his gaze once again burning through the top of Odd's head. _Too bad that's not what I want._

"Of course I do." Odd responded. On the outside, he sounded absolutely thrilled by that. On the inside, he was cursing the fact he really did know that's all they'd ever be. He was tired of this little game they were playing with each other. It was fine that Ulrich had commitment issues, he really didn't care. It was the back and forward, _we're friends_ and then _I don't want other guys checking you out_ that got annoying.

"Good." Ulrich smiled at him, waving excitedly as Yumi, William, and Aelita joined them at the table. "Hey." Ulrich offered as a greeting, the other three echoing similar sentiments.

"Feeling better, Odd?" Aelita asked, taking a seat next to the blonde. Odd nodded his head, smiling gratefully at the question.

"Much. I'm sorry we couldn't go sign up for that club together last night." Odd said. Aelita shrugged him off, taking a quick bite of her cold looking food.

"Don't worry, I signed us both up." She smiled.

"Oh, great!" Odd exclaimed. Thank God, he thought. The last thing he had wanted to do was disappoint Aelita when she'd seemed so excited to get it done the day before. It's a good thing Aelita has a well thinking brain, because he would've never thought to just sign up for both of them had she been the one to get sick.

"Yeah. I'm super excited." Aelita gushed, and for the first time in months, Aelita and Odd had a genuine conversation. They talked about everything from who they thought would join the club, who would run it, what exactly they'd be doing. Then they fell into how they've been doing, what exactly they did during the days, how classes were going. It had been so long since they'd talked like the close friends they were, or perhaps _used_ to be, and it was refreshing.

"So, you met a guy, huh?" Aelita teased, and suddenly Odd really regret ever even insinuating the fact he found men slightly more attractive than women. It was a lot rarer for Odd to talk about guys than girls, and his group luckily couldn't tease him about any girls he did come across. Obviously he wouldn't be interested. Everytime he so much as brought up the topic of a guy he met though, everyone was all over him.

"Oh, come on. Not you too." Odd whined, rolling his eyes. Aelita chuckled, not at all bothered by the clear discomfort the conversation brought Odd. It was funny to her, and if Ulrich hadn't been seething from across the table, it might have even been funny to Odd. Seriously, a jealous Ulrich sucked.

"What? You never make new friends. It's hard not to joke around." Aelita responded, chuckling at Odd's flustered appearance. It was true. Odd loved making new friends, but with how much they had to go to Lyoko, it became more of a hassle. Especially when they'd return to the past and his new friend forgot he ever existed. It was easy to rekindle that relationship, especially knowing they'd already make good friends, but he began to feel dejected after having to repeat the same conversation over and over to make sure they stayed on the same level.

Eventually, people he'd once confided in faded out of his life. They were hurt, Odd knew. He always came to care deeply for those few friends he'd made, but it was too much to keep up with. Two return to the pasts in one week could leave him confused for a few days, and he either repeated conversations or brought up ones that never happened so often it was aggravating. Trying to navigate around multiple returns in one week was simply too much. He stopped responding to them one day, giving extra school work and extracurriculars as excuses. They knew he was lying, he knows. Hopefully they forgave him anyway.

"He's cool. Really nice style." Odd decided to respond. Maybe he could stop thinking about Taehyung as someone that would be just another complication. If he decided to talk to him more, there would be nothing stopping him. No XANA attacks that made him ditch in the middle of a movie or dinner, no return to the pasts that would require him to even simply introduce himself again, and no potential for him to be hurt by XANA's threats. The only problem, was Odd wasn't all that sure if Taehyung even wanted to pursue a friendship with him.

"You should ask him to hangout sometime." William spoke up suddenly, eyeing Ulrich over his shoulder. Odd wasn't the only one that noticed how uncomfortable the whole topic made the German student.

"I don't know. He probably has plenty of other friends." Odd shrugged it off, hooking his ankle over Ulrich's.

"If he's anything like his brother, he has absolutely none." William responded. Odd was a little flabbergasted by that. It felt almost rude to talk about two people they hardly knew so casually, and while they weren't around no less. What William just said wasn't something he'd want Taehyung or his brother to hear passing by, so it wasn't a conversation he wanted to carry on.

"I'm sure it's just the language barrier." Aelita offered, quickly noticing Odd's flinch at the statement. "He probably feels uncomfortable talking to someone in French when he doesn't really know it."

"Well it's easier to learn when you talk to people." William responded. Odd knew William wasn't trying to be mean. After all, it really was true the more you spoke or listened to someone speak, the faster you learn the language. It took Odd enough time to learn French when he'd learned he was going to attend Kadic, and a lot of the kids at the school were from other countries as well.

"He'll come around. It's really scary when there's no one else who speaks the same language as you to learn with." Yumi said. "Learning French was really hard for me." The group hummed in acknowledgement. Odd was nearly fluent in both English and French, and by far the hardest was English. He still had a horrible time forming a coherent sentence in English, which was frustrating considering the countless years he spent in English speaking countries while his dad was in the military.

"Try learning German. There's so many syllables and gigantic words I barely got through the first lesson." William said, sighing dramatically. Ulrich chuckled at this.

"Deutsch ist leicht für die klügsten Idioten." Aelita chuckled openly at Ulrich's response, the pink haired girl the only other person in their group with even a basic knowledge of German.

"Translation?" William asked.

"German is easy for the smartest idiots." Aelita responded, Ulrich lifting himself up to give her a high five. The two smiled at each other, happy that they still shared something between the two of them. They appreciated having a language they could tell secrets to each other in, effectively pissing off anyone else in the room at the same time.

"So what, are you called me a dumb idiot?" William asked, seeming only slightly offended. This was the way Ulrich and William operated around each other. Undercut comments that sound offensive but really aren't meant to be, and the bickering that follow said comments.

"Jeogi geudeul-iiss-eo!" A loud, slightly familiar voice shouted from across the cafeteria. The group looked over, seeing an extremely excited Taehyung and his slightly more embarrassed looking brother following behind him.

"Jinjeonghae." Taehyung's brother said, his voice lilting in a worn out drawl. Taehyung ignored him, running right up to where their group was sat.

"Hey, you signed up for the performing arts club." Taehyung said, out of breath yet eyes still alight with the same excitement his voice betrayed. Odd smiled, nodding his head.

"Yeah! Aelita signed she and I up yesterday." Odd said, gesturing back toward his friend. She waved politely at the two boys, both giving small bows in greeting.

"Ah, that's awesome. Right, hyung?" Taehyung asked, turning back toward his brother. The older smiled warmly at Taehyung, an unmistakable fondness coating the expression he fixed his brother with.

"So cool." He said.

"Sorry if this seems rude, but what's your name?" Odd asked, wanting to finally put a name to the face and forget this whole pinball kid thing he had stuck in his head.

"Yoongi. Nice to meet you." Yoongi responded, allowing Odd to shake his hand quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, so cool." Taehyung waved him off, dropping down to sit next to Odd. There was still plenty of space left at the table, and Aelita took the time to invite Yoongi to sit as well. "Anyway, what do you think? Hyung and I spent so much time thinking of a good idea for a club, and you see our dad's friend from the military works here so we went to him with the idea." Well if people thought Odd talked a mile a minute, Taehyung must be able to travel to other countries before Odd could even make it to the next city over.

It was _great._

"You guys created the club? That's awesome!" Odd exclaimed, allowing himself a more ecstatic reaction. It had been so long since he truly felt like someone could match his normal level of enthusiasm. After all, he did live up to his name. It was very hard to top him when it came to pure level of excitement most days.

"Yeah! We spend _ages_ thinking of it. We noticed there was a drama club but it was all Shakespeare and the actress wasn't very good." Odd laughed wholeheartedly at that, Taehyung looking at him both confused and amused by his reaction.

"Oh, dude, you have no idea. If you see Elizabeth Delmas on your paper, cross it out." Odd said, a thoughtful look crossing over Taehyung's face.

"I have a Sissi Delmas?" Taehyung said. Odd immediately started shaking his head, a chorus of _nope_ escaping his lips.

"That, my friend, is your terrible actress." Both Yoongi and Taehyung looked at each other then, skeptical and surprised looks on their faces.

"What if we audition her just to see how bad it is? You can join us when she does." Taehyung offered, and Odd smiled widely at that. He still felt guarded, nervous about accepting, but _wow._ Maybe the idea of being friends with Taehyung wasn't as far off as he thought?

"I'm all for that." Odd said, accepting yet another high five from Taehyung.

"You can come too, Aelita." Taehyung said, all smiles and open arms. Aelita nodded her head happily.

"I'd love to see Sissi embarrass herself at your auditions." The four all giggled together. Odd noticed that Yoongi still seemed overly shy, the older having hardly said a word since he'd ran up behind Taehyung. That wouldn't do. For having such a hyperactive sibling, it was shocking how subdued Yoongi seemed. Was it really all because of their language barrier?

Yikes, what if he could barely understand a word of what they said?

"So, the group is for all kinds of production assets right? Behind the scenes and performing?" Odd asked, attempting to direct the question toward Yoongi but keeping it open in case Taehyung needed to answer. It was clear Yoongi knew the question was for him, but his mouth open and closed a few times before he tapped Taehyung on the back.

"Yeah, the behind the scenes stuff was Hyung's idea. He likes to make music and write lyrics, and I like to dance and sing. We decided to put those two together." Taehyung responded, placing a comforting hand on Yoongi's leg. God, the poor guy looked so embarrassed.

"That was an awesome idea." Odd said to Yoongi, the mint-haired teen giving Odd a shy smile back.

"Thank you." Yoongi responded, and Odd was happy that he caught the sentiment in his statement.

"Oh, time for class. I'll see you around?" Taehyung asked, looking genuinely sad to have to cut their conversation short. Odd's stomach flipped, his own heart dejected at the thought of not being able to continue talking.

"Yeah. Do you usually stick around for dinner?" Odd asked, thinking that there really was no point in beating around the bush. Taehyung didn't seem like the type to do so, so there was no reason for him to either.

"Oh, let's sit together during dinner! What do you think, hyung?" Taehyung said, turning back toward Yoongi. The older had that same fond smile on his face, his head shaking slightly back and forward at the younger's excitement.

"Okay, you nut." Yoongi said, Taehyung hopping up and pulling his backpack over his shoulders.

"Great! See you here at 5." Just as Taehyung started walking away, he paused abruptly, causing Yoongi to run right into him. Yoongi hardly bat an eyelid; he just moved out of the way as Taehyung practically ran back to the table. Taehyung must be like this at home, too.

"Silly me! Here, put your number in." Taehyung said, handing Odd his cellphone. Odd chuckled, putting in his number and handing Taehyung's phone back to him. The other typed out a quick message, a notification popping up on Odd's phone not a moment later. It was a short message, just saying, " _it's taetae, your new best buddie! Xx."_ Odd laughed again, typing a message back and waiting to see Taehyung's response.

Not surprisingly, Taehyung smiled so wide his face could've been split in half.

 _I don't have a cute nickname, but hi new best buddie!_

"Don't worry, I'll think of one for you. Now, we really have to go. Bye!" Taehyung said, this time actually running off in the direction of his next class. Yoongi chuckled lightly, giving their group a small wave before running after his brother. What a strong personality.

"Wow, he's something." William chuckled, Yumi and Aelita joining right along with him. Ulrich looked absolutely furious though, and for a moment Odd forgot how much Ulrich hated even the very idea of Taehyung hanging around Odd. For the first time, Odd got just as frustrated back. Why did Ulrich have to be so upset about him hanging out with anyone outside of their immediate friend group? It wasn't his fault no one else had any genuine interest in wanting to talk to him.

Was he just supposed to have one friend and that's it? That didn't seem very fair. Ulrich got to hang around with his old on again off again girlfriend and Odd never said a word. Why couldn't he hang out with a guy that ran the club he wanted to be in, was really funny, and seemed to truly enjoy talking to him?

"Time for class." Ulrich said, speeding off and dumping his food into the trash. Odd groaned, shaking his head. Maybe this is why Yumi never decided if she truly wanted to commit to Ulrich or not. He was _clingy._

"He loves you." Aelita whispered in his ear.

"I love him. I can admit it." Odd responded, lifting himself up from the table as well. It seemed like their group was a battle ground so often. Aelita and Jeremy, Ulrich and Yumi, and now all the sudden he and Ulrich were awkward around each other. Great.

The only way to pacify Ulrich would be to end his friendship with Taehyung before it ever started, and part of him was reluctant to do that. Why should he have to?

The whole way through Math Odd could hardly stop thinking about that first text Taehyung had sent him. It kept his heart a little lighter, no matter how much Ulrich's silence threatened to crush it.


End file.
